Book review: Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

In a land where three suns almost never set, a fledgling killer joins a school of assassins, seeking vengeance against the powers who destroyed her family.

Daughter of an executed traitor, Mia Corvere is barely able to escape her father’s failed rebellion with her life. Alone and friendless, she hides in a city built from the bones of a dead god, hunted by the Senate and her father’s former comrades. But her gift for speaking with the shadows leads her to the door of a retired killer, and a future she never imagined.

Now, Mia is apprenticed to the deadliest flock of assassins in the entire Republic—the Red Church. If she bests her fellow students in contests of steel, poison and the subtle arts, she’ll be inducted among the Blades of the Lady of Blessed Murder, and one step closer to the vengeance she desires. But a killer is loose within the Church’s halls, the bloody secrets of Mia’s past return to haunt her, and a plot to bring down the entire congregation is unfolding in the shadows she so loves.

Will she even survive to initiation, let alone have her revenge?

I have a lot of thoughts about this book, so my review is probably going to be a mess. Apologies in advance. But first things first, this was my first ever buddy read! Thanks to Leslie for doing it with me and for putting up with my excessive use of exclamation points and crying emojis via Goodreads messages. ❤

Anyway, wow, this book starts off with a bang. I don’t think it’s a spoiler and I also want to prepare you in case you decide to read it: this starts off with death and sex and it’s really cool, okay? I love the parallels between the two scenes and I think it was the best way to start a book. I was committed to this book and these characters and this world from the very first page.

This book is so different from what I usually read. SO DIFFERENT. I can see why some people have struggled with the writing style, but I absolutely adored it and I just thought it was so fitting for the world that Kristoff created. While we’re talking about the writing style, fair warning: there are a lot of footnotes. They were funny at the beginning, got mildly annoying about halfway in, and I barely paid attention to them by the end. That’s my one and only criticism of this book.

So. The characters. I loved them. I LOVED ALL OF THEM. I am dying, dead, RIP me. Mia is possibly my favorite fantasy protagonist ever because she’s just a teenage girl, but she’s been through so much and she’s channeling all of her rage and sadness into this crazy quest to become an assassin. And she has a talking cat?? A really sassy talking cat! Named Mister Kindly. It doesn’t get better than this.

I also loved (or loved to hate) every other character in this book. Tric! Ashlinn! Carlotta! Hush! Naev! All the crazy teachers and the librarian and oh my god, everybody.

“The books we love, they love us back. And just as we mark our places in the pages, those pages leave their marks on us. I can see it in you, sure as I see it in me. You’re a daughter of the words. A girl with a story to tell.”

I’ve had this book for about a year and never got around to reading it but after reading your review it just got bumped to the top of my TBR. Can’t wait to read and review it. I’m sure it’s gonna kill me 🙈 Lovely review 💖

I’m so glad we buddy read it too! I wrote my review for Godsgrave yesterday and it’ll be up later this week, but honestly, it’s a mess because I had no idea what to say! And it was so hard to keep it spoiler-free but I did it. I’m looking forward to your review whenever it’s up!

Great job! You are way ahead of me. haha. Yeah, it’s really hard to not give spoiler free reviews for his books. I think it’s because there’s so much that goes on! I will get on it though… I need to write that review! I hope to get it by the end of this week! 🙂

Thanks for this review! I have gone back and forth trying to decide if I want to read this one because I feel like there’s tons of hype, and I haven’t had great experiences with hyped books. But it sounds like it may be worth it, so I’ll put it on my list!

Awesome review! This is something I want to read but am low-key terrified to because it is so beloved by the bookish blogging community, so I worry that I will have expectations that won’t be met. It just sounds SO GOOD!?!?!